


The Boom of Summertime

by ifwallscouldspeak



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: 5 Things, Camping, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Prank Wars, Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22160674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifwallscouldspeak/pseuds/ifwallscouldspeak
Summary: Their rivalry starts - as most rivalries probably do - purely by accident.(A summertime pranking AU, written for the 2019 Yousana Exchange! This is 5+1 Fic with a slight twist on enemies to lovers.)
Relationships: Amira Thalia Mahmood/Mohammed Razzouk
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18
Collections: Yousana Exchange





	The Boom of Summertime

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 2019 Yousana Exchange!
> 
> This is for the wonderful [stressedoutteenager](https://stressedoutteenager.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr :) 
> 
> As always, all grammar, spelling and syntax errors are my own. I do not own Druck!
> 
> Title comes from "Old Pine" by Ben Howard

+++

Their rivalry starts - as most rivalries do - purely by accident. 

+++

**Thirteen.**

Amira is thirteen years old, and it’s her family’s annual camping trip, away from the hustle, bustle and smog of Berlin. Surrounded by fresh air, the woods, and the lake, Amira loves her family’s annual trips. The best part of it, she thinks as she looks at Nadia, is getting to spend so much time with her best friend. She knows how lucky she is that their parents let them bring their friends along for the trip. 

Amira trudges along next to Nadia, both of them dirty and sweaty with bellies full of s’mores. They’re heading back to their own campsite after hanging out with another pair of girls they had met earlier, Sam and Kiki.

“That ghost story her brother told was too scary,” Nadia is saying as they walk along the lantern-lit path. “I’m never, ever going to turn on the light when I use the bathroom again!”

“That’s the scary part to you?” Amira shudders. “Not the axe murderer?”

“It’s the same thing,” Nadia argues. “Since it was him who -”

A loud, angry shout cuts her off, making the girls pause in their steps. They glance at each other and then stare down the path towards one of the communal bathrooms. 

“Should we…?” Nadia hesitates.

“No!” Amira says, looking at her in bewilderment. “That’s like a scary story waiting to happen.” 

“But what if someone’s in trouble?” Nadia asks.

“Yeah, us,” Amira emphasizes. 

Nadia rolls her eyes, tentatively tugging on Amira’s sleeve. “Come on.”

Amira tries to dig her heels into the dirty path, but Nadia is too strong. She lets herself be pulled along, down towards the bathroom, her heart pounding loudly. There’s no one else on the path with them, and usually Amira wouldn’t be so scared. But with the trees looming over them, the sky overcast, and an evening of scary stories rumbling around in her head, she’s more than a little bit frightened. 

More shouts emerge from the bathroom, and Amira staunchly shakes her head no. Before Nadia can say anything else, a peal of manic laughter grows louder and louder. Amira’s heart starts to pound uneasily and she stops short, wondering if she should just turn and run back to their campsite. 

“Stop!”

Nadia’s gasp pulls her out of her fear, and they both stop to watch as Amira’s younger brother comes barreling towards them. He has a bundle wedged under his arm as he runs, huffing with laughter and exhaustion. Aggravated shouting follows him, still coming from the lake house. Amira practically has to jump out of the way to ensure that he doesn’t trample her. 

“Woah, Lychee!” Essam squeals as he stumbles to a stop. “Nadia!” 

Amira looks at him, bewildered. Is that a pile of clothes in his arms?

“Essam?” Amira blinks at him. “What are you -”

“Here!”

Before she can react, Essam shoves the bundle at her. Amira fumbles, automatically trying not to drop anything. She barely registers the sneakers, towel, and clothing that she’s now holding before Essam cackles maniacally and jets off again. Nadia starts to chase after him, shouting after him to come back and explain himself. Amira glances down at the bundle in bewilderment, still trying to figure out what’s going on - 

“I’m going to kill - Amira?”

Amira glances up and immediately turns red. 

Her brothers’ best friend, Mohammed, is standing just a few feet away from her. The lantern hanging above them on the path completely illuminates him, giving Amira the shock of her life. He’s barefoot and isn’t wearing anything at all, except for a plastic shower curtain wrapped around his body. The only thought going through Amira’s mind is that she’s incredibly grateful that the curtain is not translucent. 

“What are you doing?” she blurts out.

Mohammed blushes under the soft yellow light. “I - I was showering! What are - are those my clothes?”

Amira almost drops the pile in her arms. “I - it - Essam!”

“What?”

Amira closes the distance between them, shoving all of Mohammed’s clothes, his sneakers, and his towel back at him. He seems to have a hard time trying to juggle all of his belongings with keeping his shower curtain upright, but Amira can’t even think about that right now. Her mouth moves a mile a minute as she apologizes, trying to explain everything and doing a poor job of it.

“We heard you screaming so we came over here, but then Essam shoved all this at me and then you showed up and - it wasn’t me, I would never - I - I’m so sorry!”

She spares one glance at Mohammed’s humiliated, confused face before twirling on her heel and running.

“That is absolutely hilarious,” Sam says around a mouthful of blue lollipop. 

Amira hunkers down low into the sand, wishing she could just disappear. Across the shore, she can see Essam, Omar, and Mohammed playing volleyball with a few other kids. Every time Mohammed even so much as glances in their direction, she quickly turns her face away. Sam, Kiki, and Nadia sit in the sand next to her, a discarded pack of Uno cards and a mountain of candy between them.

“It’s horrible!” Kiki says, rubbing at her scalp with her fingers. “I would’ve literally died.”

“Yeah, and like the little snake he is, Essam won’t even own up to it,” Amira groans. “He knows I won’t ever tell our parents, so he’s just getting away with it! ‘It’s a joke, Lychee, calm down.’ Calm down! I saw - I saw Mohammed naked!”

“He had the curtain,” Nadia says comfortingly.

“A curtain isn’t clothes!” Amira says, still a little hurt that Nadia had left her by herself the night before to chase after Essam.

“Do you think he knows it wasn’t you?” Kiki asks. “Have you talked to him?”

“Talk to him!” Amira groans. “No! I’ve been avoiding him! It’s too embarrassing!”

“Yeah, but of the two of you, don’t you think he’s more embarrassed?” Sam asks.

Nadia throws her a look. “That’s not helpful!”

Sam shrugs with a grin. “I’m just saying.” 

Kiki scratches her scalp again. “If that happened to me with Alex, I would’ve just… I don’t know.”

“Who’s Alex?” Amira asks, hoping to change the topic.

“This boy who goes to our school,” Sam says. “Kiki’s been in love with him since forever.”

Kiki sighs wistfully. “He’s my soulmate.”

Amira tries not to laugh as she and Nadia exchange glances. Kiki rambles on about Alex for a moment, running her fingers through her hair and rubbing at her scalp the entire time. In the middle of talking about how rich he is, Nadia interrupts her.

“Everything okay?” she asks, sounding concerned. “You’re… uhm… itching a lot.”

Kiki immediately drops her hand down from her hair, turning pink. “Sorry, it’s this shampoo we came with. I think I’m allergic to it or something.”

Sam says, “Kiki’s skin is super sensitive. It’s why she has to use SPF 90.”

“It’s not that high!”

Amira tries not to laugh as she says, “Well, do you want to try using mine? Maybe it will be better.”

Kiki beams. “Oh, really! Thank you so much, Amira!”

Amira smiles at her. “No problem. I should warn you though, it is men’s shampoo. Technically.”

Kiki grimaces. “Anything has to be better than all this scratching.”

“I left my shower caddy in one of the cubbies,” Amira says, nodding towards the communal bathroom. “It’s just the gray one that says ‘Mahmood’ on it.”

“You’re a lifesaver, really,” Kiki says.

“Don’t even mention it.”

“Amira!”

For the second time in two days, Amira is startled by the sound of an aggravated shriek. She jumps in her seat at the wooden picnic table in surprise. Looking up from her summer reading book, she gasps to see Sam and Kiki storming towards her. Kiki’s entire face is pink, and she has a dark towel wrapped around her head. Beside her with his notebook open, Omar looks up as well, surprise coloring his face.

“Do you know these girls?” he tries to say.

Amira stands up as Kiki stops short right in front of their table, looking extremely upset. Sam stops in front of them as well, looking like for all the world she’s trying not to laugh. Amira stares at them, trying to wrack her brain for why Kiki would be upset with her. 

“I -”

Before Amira can continue, Kiki whips the towel off of her head. It takes Amira a moment before she notices that there’s something very, very off about Kiki’s hair. It’s bright red, the same shade as Kool-Aid.

Amira takes a few steps forward, her mouth dropping open, a small squeak coming out of her mouth.

Kiki looks up, eyes rimmed with tears. “Amira!”

“Kiki!” Amira gasps. “What happened?” 

“Your shampoo, that’s what happened!” 

“That has never happened to me before!” Amira gasps out. “I - I had no idea, that never happened before, and I use this shampoo all the time!”

Sam delicately coughs, holding out Amira’s shampoo bottle towards her. “It looks like someone, uhm, put henna or something in your shampoo? Like… a prank or something?”

“But - but why would anyone do that?” Amira asks.

“What am I supposed to do?” Kiki wails, seemingly not caring about the how or why, just that it happened.

“You could leave it?” Omar says uncertainty. “It’ doesn’t look bad, honest -” 

Kiki’s face turns redder than her hair. “Don’t patronize me!”

Omar mumbles out an apology, looking like he’d rather be anywhere but here.

“Kiki, I’m so, so sorry,” Amira rushes out. “We can fix this, I…”

It’s then that Amira catches sight of Mohammed, standing a few feet behind Kiki. He’s staring at the back of her head in horror, eyes wide and face ashen. Their eyes meet, and Amira feels hers narrow. Before she can move a step in his direction though, he’s off like a light. Amira hesitates, torn between running after him and staying to comfort Kiki. Her mouth ends up working faster than her brain though, and as she opens her mouth, the words spill out accidentally. 

“That honorless dog!” Amira cries.

“What?” Kiki stops sniffling long enough to look up at her in surprise.

Sam peers at her. “Amira!”

“It was Mohammed!” Amira blurts out. “It had to be.”

Omar’s eyebrows raise high on his face. “Lychee, I -”

Amira ignores him. “I told you, he thinks I stole his clothes, right?”

“Right,” Sam says slowly.

“What!” Omar screeches.

“And my shampoo was in my caddy! It had my name clearly on it!”

“He must’ve done it to prank you back!” Sam gasps. 

Understanding falls over Kiki’s face. “Oh my God! But I used it instead!”

“Uh,” Omar says. “Uh, I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding, you know -”

“No, I do know,” Amira glares. “This means _war_.”

+++

Amira decides that revenge is a dish best served cold, which is why she doesn’t carry her plan out until one year later, on campgrounds again. 

Oh, she knows that Mohammed thinks it’s all water under the bridge between them, and they get along fine the rest of the year. But Amira just smiles back at him and bides her time.

+++

**Fourteen.**

“You know what we should do?” Amira asks, slowly turning her marshmallow over the fire, “we should all sleep out on the shore tonight. It is our last night here!”

She tries to keep her voice casual, slowly peeking around at the small group surrounding the bonfire. Her circle of friends has expanded this year. In addition to Sam, Kiki and Nadia, she’s made friends with a nice redhead, Hanna, her boyfriend, Jonas, and her boyfriend’s best friends, Matteo and Carlos. Mohammed, Essam, and Omar are also around the campfire, with Mohammed sitting next to Amira. He looks up at her and smiles, already nodding his agreement. Amira feels a spark of excitement shoot through her; she tells herself it’s purely about the prank. 

“Oh, what a good idea, Amira,” Sam says, trying to sound as innocent as possible. “We can watch the sunrise over the lake!”

Hanna smiles nervously. “Yes. That’d be fun.”

“We definitely have to do it,” Kiki says. 

Amira hopes she’s the only one who hears the slightly manic, slightly malicious tone in Kiki’s voice. To this day, she swears her hair is still slightly tinted pink.

“Sounds awesome,” Carlos says quickly, glancing at Kiki.

Amira has to stop herself from laughing as everyone begins to nod and agree, making plans to split up soon so everyone can grab their tents, air mattresses, and sleeping bags and drag them towards the shoreline. As it is, she has to keep biting the inside of her cheek to stop from grinning too hard. When Mohammed peers at her curiously, she almost can’t contain the excited giggle that spills out.

“You okay?” he asks her.

“Huh?” Amira nods quickly. “Yes, of course. Why?”

“You just seem like you have a lot of energy,” Mohammed says. “Usually you’re more… calm?”

Amira shrugs. “You know, just… the excitement of the last night. Where anything can happen.”

She almost smacks herself, thinking she’s revealed too much. However, Mohammed just stares at her face, a slow smile spreading across it as he does. Amira’s heart skips a bit; it’s like he’s trying to memorize every portion of her face. For a moment, she feels guilty about what she has planned. 

“I’m so excited,” Kiki says from her other side.

Just like that, the guilt is gone. 

“Shh!” 

“No, you shh!”

“He’s going to wake up, shh!”

Amira takes a deep, steadying breath after hissing for everyone to be quiet. She glances back towards Essam and Omar’s tent, hoping neither of her brothers will wake up for a quick trip to the bathroom. She turns back to the twin-sized air mattress in front of her, with Mohammed laid prone across it and deep asleep. She, Kiki, Hanna, and Sam all have one corner as they slowly drag it across the sand. Nadia nervously acts as the look-out.

“Come on,” Sam says. “We’re almost to the shoreline!”

A small nugget of guilt invades Amira’s conscience.

“Wait,” she whispers. “Wait, hold on.”

She gently drops her corner of the air mattress, standing up straight and peering off at the lake.

“What is it?” Hanna asks, squinting at Amira in the moonlight.

“We’re so close!” Kiki whispers.

“I know, I just…” Amira bites her lip, and inspiration strikes. “Just - hold on a moment.” 

She hears Sam’s confused, low murmurs as she races down the beach as fast as she can. Once she reaches her destination she stops, grinning at the stack of canoes and paddles carefully arranged. She grabs one of the oars and turns, careful not to smack it against the wooden structure. 

When she arrives back to their makeshift camp, Kiki, Sam and Hanna are giggling so hard they look like they may burst at any moment. Nadia is shaking her head, exasperated, a small smile playing on her face.

“What?” Amira whispers, gently placing the oar next to Mohammed’s sleeping body. 

She smiles down at him for a moment, at how calm he looks sleeping. She has the sudden urge to push his curls off of his forehead, tenderness sneaking into her heart. 

“Ingenious, Amira,” Sam whispers. 

Amira wakes up to a loud, startled screech, immediately knowing that all the hard work was worth it. 

She leaps off of her air mattress, out of her tent, and onto the sand, grinning as the sun comes up over the lake. All of her friends are already up and out, laughing and holding onto each other as they point out towards the lake. Her brothers blearily come out of their tent, confused and startled.

To his credit, Mohammed doesn’t appear to be panicking after his first initial outburst. He’s sitting up on the air mattress, paddle in his lap. Amira wishes she could see the look on his face, but he’s floated out a bit far from the shore. Besides her, Omar and Essam are cracking up, holding onto one another for support. Out on his makeshift raft, Mohammed lifts up his oar in a salute. Amira imagines that he has a grin on his face, figuring it means that he accepts the retribution that was coming to him gracefully. 

+++

As it turns out, he doesn’t take the retribution gracefully. It takes another year for him to exact his revenge, but when he does, he pulls out all the small, annoying stops. 

+++

**Fifteen.**

Amira spits her iced tea out, looking completely undignified as she does. Beside her, Nadia smacks her on the back in concern, and Sam stares at her wide eyes, slowly sipping on her own iced tea.

“There’s nothing in there but - but lemon!” Amira says.

She has half a mind to stick her tongue out and start scraping at it with her nails, trying to get the bitter taste out of her mouth. She clanks her plastic cup onto the tabletop, staring at it mutinously. 

“Mine tastes fine,” Sam says haltingly. 

Omar eyes her from over the rim of his cup. “Mine too.”

“Then what -” Amira’s eyes narrow. “Oh. Oh.”

She whips her head around to stare towards the cooler full of drinks, right next to a bunch of grills and parents milling around, grilling and laughing. Her eyes trace over all of the figures until she sees Mohammed, already staring back at her with a grin on his face. He lifts up one arm and waves it at her, his hand clenched into a fist around a lemon. Amira narrows her eyes and pushes her way out of her seat to storm over to him.

“Amira!” 

She ignores Nadia’s half laughing, half concerned voice as she stomps over to Mohammed. 

“Wow,” he says, clearly trying not to burst into laughter when she stops short in front of him. “That cold gaze could keep all of these drinks frosty.”

“What did you do to my drink?” she glares at him.

He stares back at her innocently. “Essam told me that you prefer a little extra lemon.”

“A little extra,” she snaps back. “Not the entire wedge!”

He smiles at her like they have an inside joke. “Oops.”

Before she can open her mouth again, her mother wanders over. She’s beaming at Mohammed like he’s the best thing since sliced bread. If Amira wasn’t so annoyed right now, she’d probably feel a warm feeling at how much her parents like Mohammed.

“Hello, you two,” her mother says, a slightly mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Hi Mrs. Mahmood,” Mohammed says.

“Hey, Mama,” Amira mutters. 

This whole issue, Amira glowers, will just have to wait until they can talk alone.

Mohammed, apparently, has no desire to continue their conversation. Mohammed seems to expertly know how to make himself disappear the entire rest of the trip. Except, of course, for when it comes to the gloating in the aftermath.

“Why is my entire tent filled with balloons!”

Amira stands at the opening of her tent, glowering at the mass of colorful balloons that are crowded to the brim inside of it. Behind her, Essam chortles heartily. Amira turns around on her heel and glares at him. As she does, she spots a mane of dark hair disappearing down the path. Amira pushes past her brother and down the dirt, calling for Mohammed the entire time.

“Mohammed Razzouk!” 

When she’s only a few feet away, he stops and turns. There’s a casual look on his face, but a sly look in his eyes. Amira purses her lips and stabs her pointer finger at his chest.

“The iced tea wasn’t enough?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mohammed says, a smile playing on his lips.

“No idea, huh?” Amira glares. “Look, you started all of this -”

“Did I?” he cocks his head slightly. “I remember things every differently -”

She groans, cutting him off. “But this is -”

“Going too far?” Mohammed asks. “Amira, look, I can’t say who did or didn’t fill up your tent -”

“I know it was you!”

“But maybe you should lighten up?” he asks.

Amira stares at him for a moment. “Is that supposed to be a pun? Lighten up, like gas?”

Mohammed shrugs at her, something that she swears she does not find cute. 

“This isn’t over,” she hisses at him.

He leans down into her space. “Oh no. It’s just begun.”

That summer goes by with more small, annoying, yet ultimately harmless pranks. 

Amira paints Mohammed’s fingernails bright green while he’s sleeping; Mohammed somehow manages to swap her vanilla pudding cup with mayonnaise. Amira slips a Mentos into Mohammed’s bottle of soda; Mohammed plants a fake tarantula in her bag on a late afternoon hike. 

“You really gotta be careful on these paths,” Mohammed says, grinning in Amira’s face.

He holds up the very realistic, but actually plastic, tarantula between his thumb and forefinger. Kiki makes a small, shuddering noise and skips away from them. Carlos chases after her, slinging his arm around her shoulder to tell her that he’ll protect her from the insects. She shoves at him gently, telling him she’ll take care of herself. Probably.

“You know, it’s bad luck to kill one of these things,” Mohammed says, sticking his joke back into his back pocket.

“I wonder if it’s bad luck to kill boys,” Amira says sweetly.

Sam blows a bubble with the gum in her mouth, and then pops it. “I thought that was spiders.”

“What?”

Both Amira and Mohammed turn to her, startled. Sam glances at Amira and then Mohammed, a sly grin playing on her lips.

“Spiders,” Sam says. “I thought it was bad luck to kill spiders.”

“Tarantulas are spiders,” Mohammed and Amira say at the same time.

Sam licks her lips, looking like she’s trying not to laugh. “Uhm, right. Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry,” Amira says. “Unlike some people here…”

Mohammed smiles in her face. “I’ll accept your apology at any time.”

Amira glares at his back at he starts back down the path, whistling the tune of an old Arabic song as he goes. Amira feels her gaze softening as he does, her eyes roaming down him from his fluffy hair to his muddy boots. A small smile begins to play at her lips, and honestly, he’s just so ridiculous - 

“You and Mohammed sure do spend a lot of time together,” Hanna says playfully.

Amira almost jumps, not realizing that Hanna and Matteo have caught up to them. They stand next to Sam, all of them looking at Amira eagerly, as if she has some kind of news to share with them. Amira huffs back at them.

“Mohammed did the fake spider prank,” Sam tells them. “Seems like it was an excuse just to touch Amira’s hand instead -”

“No, it was an excuse for him to scare me!” Amira says.

“Sure,” Matteo says easily.

“And anyway,” Amira insists loudly, “if we seem to spend a lot of time together, it’s just because of the pranking.”

“Right,” Hanna smiles. “The pranking.”

“The gloating in the best park of pranking,” Amira says. “What’s the point if you’re not around to see the results and start the smack talk?”

“Sure,” Hanna says, a knowing look in her eyes. “The smack talk.”

“There’s nothing else to it,” Amira says.

Matteo lopsided grins at her. “I don’t know, Amira. I can only think of one reason a guy would spend so much time thinking of ways to prank someone.”

“Bullying?” Amira says grouchily. 

Sam laughs in her face. “I wasn’t aware that bullying could go both ways.”

“I’m defending myself!” Amira insists.

Matteo smiles coyly. “Defending yourself? Huh, is that what the kids are calling flirting these days?”

Amira stomps off, not bothering to dignify that with a response. 

+++

Trying to explain her prank war with Mohammed proves to be more complicated than actually coming up with new pranks.

“So, you just… prank each other all summer?” Mia frowns at her in the quiet library. 

“It’s their thing,” Sam says emphatically.

“Why are you saying it like that?” Amira asks.

Kiki raises her eyebrows. “You don’t want to get caught in the middle of it. I did, once, when we were thirteen, and -”

“Disaster,” Sam continues.

Mia folds her lips together. “I see.”

“I don’t think anyone really _can_ see, not until it starts happening,” Hanna says, smiling. 

“Then I can’t wait for the annual camping trip,” Mia says. 

+++

**Sixteen.**

“Pinecones in the bottom of my sleeping bag, Amira?” Mohammed asks, dumping a pile of them on the wooden table. “Amateur.”

Amira tries not to scowl at him, instead pasting a smile on her face as she looks up. She has to keep her sunglasses on because of how bright it is outside, with the sunlight illuminating around Mohammed. He’s already grinning down at her, a soft gaze in his eyes. She can feel Mia moving forward with interest, her head propped up on her hands as she watches the interaction.

“Not any more amateur then shoving rocks in my backpack,” Amira says back with saccharine in her voice. “What, did you think I wouldn’t be checking my bag after what you pulled last year?”

“It was worth the risk,” Mohammed says, laughter in his voice. “After I got you with the tarantula trick twice.”

Amira feels her mouth relaxing into an actual grin, despite the fact that she’s trying very hard to frown at Mohammed. He beams back at her, and she can’t help but notice how nice and soft his lips look, and how warm and brown his skin is in the sun. 

“I guess we’ll both have to step our game up,” she says, in a tone that she did not mean to come out as flirty.

“I would say we should brainstorm together,” he teases back, “but I don’t want to reveal all my secrets.”

“I thought that was just magicians,” Amira vaguely hears Sam mutter to Kiki. 

Amira can barely stop laughing as she pulls her phone out, recording as Mohammed struggles to open the zipper to his tent. There’s a slight chill in the air, as the sun hasn’t even properly risen yet, with dew covering everything. As far as Amira knows, she and Mohammed are the only ones awake; she barely hears stirring from any of the other tents.

“Very funny, Amira,” is the wry response that comes through the fabric. “Help?”

“Not a chance,” Amira says. 

“Seriously? You’re gonna leave me trapped in here all summer?”

“If it keeps you from constantly annoying me, then yes,” Amira shoots back.

Mohammed laughs, filling Amira up with warmth. She knows her face is turning red, and she’s just happy that Mohammed can’t actually see her at the moment. 

“Will you at least tell me how you did it?” he asks.

“Why? So, you can do the same to me?” Amira asks. “Besides, what happened to never revealing your secrets?”

“Ouch,” he jokes back. “I’d never steal a prank from you. I have more honor than that.”

Amira smiles at that. “It was a paperclip.”

“A what?”

“You heard me.”

“I almost wish I hadn’t,” he mumbles. “Sort of ruins the magic, huh?”

Amira grins. “I’m not so sure about that.”

Amira’s mother stares at the dark splotch on her white shirt in horror. “Amira! What happened to your shirt!”

Amira ignores the laughing behind her, trying not to wince under her mother’s scrutiny.

“I… got ash on it...” Amira mumbles.

Her mother raises her eyebrows in surprise. “Ash? Like from the fire?”

“Something like that,” Amira says.

Her mother clucks at her. “Amira, don’t sit so close to those bonfires! You could get seriously hurt!” 

Just then, Mohammed pops into her peripheral vision, giving her mother a brilliant smile. Amira thinks she sees her mother make a small, swooning motion; begrudgingly, she can’t blame her. Mohammed’s full grin is certainly a sight to behold. 

“That’s quite a stain,” Mohammed says in false sympathy. “I hope you can get it out.”

“How kind of you to care,” Amira says through her teeth, before looking at her mother. “And Mama, I wasn’t sitting close to the fire. My sunglasses were dirty, and when I tried to clean them off -”

“How many times have I had to tell you not to clean your glasses on your clothes,” her mother sighs.

“I’ve heard you tell her that many times,” Mohammed says.

Amira feels the smile spreading across her face, even as she starts shaking her head at Mohammed. 

“Awh, come on!” Amira complains, staring at her dirty hands in dismay. “Ash underneath the door handle? Seriously?”

Mohammed laughs in her ear as he slides past her to stand on her other side and grin down at her. Amira shivers, the sensation making her flush. She looks down and away, rubbing her hands onto her dark pants to at least try to clean them off. With a coy smile on her face, Kiki passes her a water bottle and hops into the van. Carlos and Sam snicker as they follow Kiki in; Amira tries to concentrate on washing off her hands. 

“It’s technically not the end of summer yet,” Mia muses.

“Mia!”

“She’s right,” Omar grins. “You’re still on campgrounds.”

“That’s - I - fine,” Amira says, sighing. 

Mohammed asks, “Fine?”

“You win,” Amira mutters, glancing up at him. “For this summer.” 

Mohammed climbs up into the van, and then holds his hand out to her. Amira looks up into his warm, smiling face, and she can’t help but smile back at him. She places her clean but wet hand in his, and he helps her climb up as well. 

+++

“You know what might be cool?” David says suddenly, sitting up from his spot on Matteo’s chest. “ _The Parent Trap._ ”

They’re all in Mia and Matteo’s flat share, pretending to study for end of the year exams, but really just snacking and goofing off. Amira turns around from her spot on the floor, almost ripping some papers from the notebook on the ground below her. 

“Nuh-uh,” Abdi squeaks. “I hate scary movies.”

“Abdi, _The Parent Trap_ is not a scary movie,” Sam grins, poking him in the side with one long nail. 

“Yes it is, those creepy twins… down that long hallway…” Abdi mutters.

“That’s _The Shining_ ,” Jonas sighs. 

“Ugh, anyway,” David says. “I’m not talking about watching the movie. But planning the movie.”

“Huh?” Amira asks, taking a sip of her soda.

“For your prank this year,” David says. 

“Amira frowns thoughtfully. “I don’t want to do anything too intense…”

“You floated Mohammed out to sea,” Hanna reminds her.

“ _We_ floated Mohammed out to sea,” Amira says. “Well. Lake.” 

“My red hair was pretty intense,” Kiki mutters.

Carlos kisses the top of her head. “I bet it looked cool.”

“It really didn’t,” Sam says. 

“No, but trust me,” David grins at Amira. “It’d be totally awesome.”

Mia asks from the kitchen table, “aren’t you tired of the pranking?”

A chorus of voices say, “no.”

“Okay,” Amira says slowly, “what did you have in mind?” 

+++

**Seventeen.**

Nadia watches with critical eyes as Amira tugs bottles of chocolate syrup, feathers, whipped cream, and string out of her bag and onto the floor of her tent. 

“Don’t you think this is a bit too much?” Nadia asks.

“No,” Amira says.

“Okay.”

Amira waits for Nadia to keep talking, but only the chatter and laughter of people outside her tent fills up the space. Amira pauses in her unpacking and looks up. Nadia is staring right at her, one eyebrow cocked. Amira sighs.

“What?”

“I just don’t know why you two keep doing this,” Nadia says. 

Amira opens her mouth automatically. “It’s because he -”

“He started it, I know, I know,” Nadia says, a slight smile springing to her lips. “But I just… why can’t you two just admit you like each other already? Maybe… actually talk instead of just… pranking?”

“We do talk,” Amira says. “All year round, we talk. But this is the _summer_.”

Nadia furrows her brow, looking like all the world she’s trying to understand. “Okay…?”

Amira opens her mouth but finds that she has no explanation to give Nadia.

Somewhere along the line, the pranking became more about revenge, and just about the plain fun of it. It became about the thrill of seeing Mohammed’s eyes light up when he successfully pranked her, or the acceptance and laughter in the curve of his smile when she pulled a fast one on him. She thinks about how many times they’ve laughed, all the ribbing, and all the fun they’ve had every single summer for years.

How it’s the one space they can just be goofy and free and themselves, together. 

“Oh,” Nadia says, eyes searching across Amira’s face. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Amira asks, even though she already knows the answer.

“Oh,” Nadia confirms.

She reaches over, first to squeeze Amira’s hand, then to help pull out more bottles of chocolate syrup.

Amira snickers to herself as she creeps back to her tent, her fingers only a little bit sticky with bits of feather fluff stuck to them. Thankfully, Mohammed had placed his tent right underneath a tree, with branches hanging low enough for Amira to strategically set her bucket full of goop. She giggles, thinking about how he hadn’t even moved an inch when she sprayed the whipped cream around his head. It was so dark, and he was so still, bundled up in his sleeping bag that she couldn’t even see his skin.

Amira is so busy giggling to herself that she almost doesn’t notice that her tent is gone until she’s right in front of the space it should be. 

She gasps, eyes bugging as she stares at the empty space. 

Turning around drastically left and right, she tries to peer around the campground looking for her tent. The lanterns hanging up around the perimeter don’t do much to help her see, and the flashlight on her phone doesn't have a wide enough range for her to see everything. Amira groans, utterly confused as to how any of this could have happened. Mohammed had been asleep in his tent the entire time...

Unless he had an accomplice. S

he frowns; she could definitely see either of her brothers deciding to join in on the pranking. 

She narrows her eyes, turning back around and stomping towards Mohammed’s tent. She pulls up the sounds on her phone, fully intending to play the air horn noise to wake him up now, making sure that her traps absolutely _cover_ him - 

“Looking for me?” Mohammed asks, standing outside of his tent with his arms folded and a grin on his face. 

Amira narrows her eyes at him and how clean he looks, dressed in just a pair of sweatpants, a hoodie and sneakers. She tries not to be too obvious as she glances up; the bucket of chocolate syrup is still holding steady on the tree branches. 

“How?” is all she manages to squeak out.

He smiles at her. “Well-placed pillows and a wig.”

She gasps at him. “So, you - you were waiting for me to leave my tent the entire time?”

“I knew you’d be too smart to try something when I was still awake,” he says, “and sleeping seems to be my downfall. So… yes.”

“Well, you got me,” Amira says, trying to seem upset like he won. “And now, I get to sleep outside. Or bunk with someone.”

“I would offer you my tent, and I’ll stay with Essam or Omar,” Mohammed says, “but I have a feeling you’re not gonna wanna go inside.”

Amira says nothing, just feels a smile grow on her face. “And why would you say that?”

“Because I know you,” Mohammed says simply. 

Amira gazes up and him, at a loss for words. His smile grows smaller and more intimate, until it’s completely off of his face. She’s not sure who moves forward first, but all of a sudden, they’re only a few inches apart. Amira can feel the soft, yellow glow of the lanterns right on her face, while Mohammed’s is mostly shrouded in darkness. However, she can see his eyes so clearly, dark and vast like a starless sky. She catches his gaze fall down to her lips, and then back up to her eyes. Her breath catches in her throat and she feels her heart expand, warmth and excitement running through her. 

“Amira,” Mohammed says.

She shakes her head a little bit, but a smile blossoms onto her face. Mohammed takes a steadying breath, and then a smile creeps onto his lips too.

“Mohammed!”

They startle slightly, turning towards the sound of the voice. Essam is crawling out of his tent tiredly, scratching at his belly button. Amira takes a half step away from Mohammed, not wanting to move too far away from him but also embarrassed at their moment being interrupted. Mohammed seems to feel the same way; Amira feels his fingers brush the back of her hand before he steps away, too. They glance at each other, smiling bashfully, before looking back at Essam. He doesn’t seem to notice anything, just yawns and stumbles towards Mohammed’s tent. 

“These mosquitos are killing me, man,” Essam says as he shoves past Amira and Mohammed. “Lemme get some of your bugspray?”

“Uh, I don’t think you want to -” Mohammed starts to say.

“Essam, no!” 

Essam tugs on the zipper of Mohammed’s tent. As if in slow-motion, Amira looks up to see the bucket begin to tip down, the string tying it to the zipper pulling on it. Amira grabs Mohammed’s hand without thinking, leaping out of the way. As she pulls him along with her, she hears his sharp gasp.

“Wha - aaaaaah!” Essam yelps.

Mohammed trips backwards with Amira, way out of the splash zone. Amira can only stare in horror as the chocolate syrup and feather concoction spills down all over her little brother, leaving him a sticky, fluffy mess. He lets out a low, confused shout; Amira glances around, hoping that it doesn’t wake anyone else up in the middle of the night. Beside her, Mohammed is making a shocked sound like he wants to laugh but is too horrified to actually do so. 

“Lychee!” Essam screeches. “This is - this is -”

“Hilarious?” Amira says, her voice a smidge too high.

“This has gone on long enough!” Essam moans. “And - and it’s all my fault!” 

“What?”

“Huh?”

Essam points a finger at both of them. “Enough! For years and years, you two have been going at each other, but enough! This is - enough!”

“Essam?” Amira says, bewildered.

“Omar always said that it would come back to bite me, but I never listened,” Essam cries. “Well, now I’m listening. I’m sorry I even started all of this!” 

“It wasn’t you,” Amira says. “It was Mohammed.”

“Me?”

“Mohammed, I stole all your clothes from the shower,” Essam says. 

“I already knew that!” Mohammed says. “And Amira was your accomplice -”

“I was not!” 

“And - and Lychee, I told Mohammed that the gray ‘Mahmood’ caddy was mine. I knew he would try to get me back,” Essam says. “I had no idea Kiki would -”

“Oh, so it was okay to frame me, but not Kiki!” Amira demands.

Essam winces, then holds up his hands placatingly. “I’m… sorry?”

Amira grins at him. “Oh, you’re not now. But you will be.”

Beside her, Mohammed smiles too. “Oh, you definitely will be.” 

+++

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that it was all Essam with the shower?” Mohammed asks Amira.

They’re on her sofa, curled up with hot chocolate and popcorn, watching, of course, _The Parent Trap_. Amira smooths down the blanket over her lap and shrugs back at him. 

“I saw you naked,” she says. “I was too embarrassed at first, and then - well, then it didn’t really matter, anyway.”

“I had the shower curtain,” Mohammed mutters, face going a little pink.

Amira nudges her shoulder against his, gently. “Why didn’t you ever tell me you were trying to dye Essam’s hair red instead of mine?”

“Would you ever have believed me?” he asks.

Amira thinks about it for a moment. “I always thought it was strange that you tried to do that, anyway. With my hijab and everything.”

“That was the summer Essam’s hair was bleached,” Mohammed says. “He would’ve looked so funny.”

Amira smiles. “He already did.”

“I heard that!” Essam calls out, somewhere behind them.

Mohammed grins, and Amira enjoys the way her heart skips. 

+++

**+Eighteen.**

Amira and Mohammed pass by Essam, and he jumps. The movement makes him stumble down the dirt path, almost tripping over a rock and falling flat on his face. Amira pauses with worry, but then let herself laugh when the only thing that seems bruised about Essam is his ego. She never realized climbing up the same old hiking trail year after year could still be so much fun. She glances up at Mohammed, clearly trying not to laugh.

She thinks that maybe, it really is all about the company.

“Woah!” Mohammed finally says, moving to help Essam up. 

“Don’t touch me!” Essam’s voice goes a bit high, then evens out. “I’m - I’m fine.”

“Wow, Essam,” Sam laughs as she strolls by. “Way to be paranoid.”

“Paranoid?” Essam asks, staring wildly at Mohammed and Amira. “Paranoid about what?”

Amira shrugs at him; Mohammed gives him a sharp grin.

“Essam said he’d pay me to try all of his food first,” Sam says to Amira as they snack on some trail mix.

Amira starts to laugh so hard she almost chokes. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” Sam says. “Five bucks per day. I’m starting to think that it’s a good idea. Doesn’t pay as well as the snack stand, but it could be lucrative in the end.”

“He said he’d pay me to walk in front of him in every building he went into,” Abdi pipes in. “Not that there are that many buildings, but.”

Amira snorts. “I’m surprised he didn’t try to bribe anyone into turning the shower on before him.”

“No, he did that too,” David says wryly.

Amira watches from her spot at the campfire as Essam takes a flashlight and shines it around the entire area around his tent. Mohammed passes her a s’more and she revels in the electric feel of their fingers brushing together. After thanking him, Amira gleefully bites into the snack, the sweet and hot taste melting onto her mouth. Essam hesitantly pulls on the zipper of his tent before leaping back, standing still for exactly five minutes before entering his tent. He re-emerges a few minutes later, shaking out his sleeping bag like he’s expecting a host of pinecones and fake insects to come pouring out of it. Beside her, Mohammed laughs gently in her ear.

“Are you ever going to tell your brother the pranking has stopped?” Mia asks from her other side.

“Would he believe us if we did?” Mohammed counters.

“Besides,” Amira laughs. “I feel like not pranking him… is actually the best prank of all.” 

Across the fire, Sam laughs. “Well, that and the summer’s not over yet.”

Amira looks over at Mohammed, who’s already staring at her with a mischievous grin on his face.

“No,” Amira says. “The summer’s not over yet.” 

  
+++


End file.
